Dear GemmaRose and David,
Pope Benedict XVI also received for a two hour dinner the **condemned **theologian Hans Kung just a few months
after he was elected Pope. In that occasion, the Pope’s spokesperson declared that the encounter had taken place in a “friendly setting” and that the Pope had “appreciated” and “agreed” on some points. However, it remains clear – even if not specifically said by the spokesperson – that Kung’s views on several controversial doctrinal issues are not shared by the Pope.
That is how Pope Benedict is: a man of dialogue. But to dialogue with someone does not mean one approves all that person’s ideas. And Kung is only an example; I chose him because he is well-known and remains condemned by the CDF. And it is also in this light that former Cardinal Ratzinger’s attitude towards Vassula makes sense. To dialogue does not mean to approve.
Regarding the recent TLIG pilgrimage in Egypt, where the Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa warmly received Mrs Ryden and all her group, I can only tell you what I have been told by a Greek Orthodox person living in Egypt, who contacted the Patriarchate regarding this matter. According to the exchange of letters he had with the Secretary of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, they lacked all the information regarding Mrs Ryden’s situation with the Greek Orthodox Church.
I consider the information believable, because similar situations of disinformation involving TLIG have occurred in Catholic settings, for instance in January of 2006 in Los Angeles (I copy the information at the end of this posting).
What I can confirm is that in 2001 the Greek Orthodox Church did indeed issue the decree saying that Mrs Ryden did not act as a member of the Greek Orthodox Church although she continues to present herself as a member of it. And that this continues to be the opinion of the Greek Orthodox Church for the reasons mentioned in my website. Of course, as is the case in the Catholic Church, there are individual clergy (including bishops) and faithful who do not agree with that position, and express it as their personal opinions.
Warmy in Christ,
Maria Laura Pio
**Extracts from the article “L.A. Cathedral disinvites Christian Unity Event” published in the Los Angeles Times, January 10, 2006: **"Msgr. Kevin Kostelnik, pastor of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, said that what had been represented by sponsors as a Christian unity conference had turned out to be largely a forum for Vassula Ryden (…). Kostelnik said that **the decision to withdraw the cathedral’s invitation to play host to the conference was ‘final and not subject to change’./B] He said that the meeting was turning into something different than originally proposed. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony,
the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, had earlier agreed to offer welcoming remarks at the conference, but now approved the withdrawal, Kostelnik said. (…)
**A leading Greek Orthodox priest **said Monday he previously had also pulled out of the Jan. 28 conference. “Everything is very suspect. That’s all I’m going to say”, said Very Rev. John Bakas, dean of St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles. A publicist for the conference said a second Greek Orthodox priest, from Brooklyn,
had also decided not to attend.
The meeting was to have been under the auspices of Ryden’s True Life in God organization and sponsored by the New Jerusalem Foundation, headed by Claire and Antoine Mansour. (…) In a handwritten Oct. 7 letter to Kostelnik, Antoine Mansour assured the pastor that Ryden’s writings ‘have been cleared by the Vatican’. But Kostelnik wrote Monday [Jan. 9] that **Mansour’s assurance was ‘a serious misrepresentation of the current Vatican view of Mrs Ryden’s speeches and writings’. He said 1995 and 1996 Vatican statements cautioning Catholics against following Ryden remained ‘in full force’. (…)
(Read the complete article at: ourladyswarriors.org/vassula.htm )